Harness the Hidden Treasure! Freeing Knowledge,Energies and Learning Opportunities in Child and Youth Homes to Benefit Children,Youth,Staff,Leaders and the Organisation as a Whole

Abstract

Daily life in a child and youth home is created jointly by staff, children, youth and leaders. However, three important resources often remain unavailable for the development of the organisation and its promotion of the young people: (1) the knowledge of the organisation, and different perspectives on the organisation, that these persons hold, (2) the energies freed when they perceive the quality of the child and youth home as a matter of shared interest and join forces to develop it, and (3) the organisation and the processes of shaping it as learning opportunities in themselves, especially for children and youth. By participating in shaping the organisation that they live in, they not only make a contribution to its quality that only they can make, but also strengthen important competences for their independent lives. Examples from practice and research in Brazil, Hungary and Switzerland illustrate the three resources and how they can benefit both the organisation and all the persons in it, especially the children and youth. Readers are encouraged to harness the ‘hidden treasure’ that these resources represent, for the benefit of the child and youth homes as well as the children and youth in their care.

Keywords

Child youth residential care organisational development knowledge participation

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References

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